Page 72 of Forever Flirting

“And his bicycle had those old metal pedals with the teeth on them,” Nana said, smiling at Everly. “He had to pedal back the entire way and was angrier about that, than the fact that we needed to go get him another pair of shoes for school.”

“Because I had no clue of the value of a dollar,” he chuckled.

“You still don’t, boy.”

“It’s a rough lesson to learn sometimes,” Everly volunteered. “I know I certainly had to learn myself when my parents left. My brother had just left for Afghanistan, and my parents sold everything off to travel. I had to find an office, hire staff, figure out billing… and rent a place. It was almost a year before I managed to be solvent and bought my house.”

“You had to do all that alone, child?”

“Never alone,” she smiled sagely. “My brother was always volunteering to help, but from overseas. I didn’t want to take advantage of his generosity, and managed somehow.”

“I had no idea,” Alex began, looking at her in disbelief. He had no idea that she’d been alone here, setting up her business. “I wondered if you had family out here, because when we first met it was in downtown Dallas.”

“I grew up there and it was my home for years,” she volunteered. “The cost of real estate was so cheap here, it was a small budding town, and Tyler was close enough that if my practice somehow failed… I could try to get on at the hospital.”

“A backup plan,” Nana smiled.

“Always,” Everly agreed, nodding, and rose to her feet. “And I really should be going, because the office is opening at eight in the morning.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Alex volunteered immediately. “Let me put up the plates and…”

“I’ll get them, young ‘un,” Nana countered, interrupting. “You walk my girl to the car.”

“Thank you,” he said softly, kissing his grandmother on the cheek, before moving to get the door for Everly.

As they walked outside, he immediately reached for her hand and saw her smile easily at him. A half-moon was casting a faint glow over the darkness, and the front porch light wasn’t on yet, so they didn’t need to worry about June bugs or beetles. He could see a few fireflies, and heard a car off in the distance.

“I had a great time this evening,” Everly volunteered, walking towards the driver’s side of the car and hesitating. “The office is closing tomorrow at two, if you want to meet up?”

“I would love that. I’m supposed to meet Mallory at the McDonald’s to get Caleb at noon – so that works perfectly.”

“Let’s take him to the park and then…”

“Then let’s have dinner together. I could make something and…”

“Dinner… almost as a family?” Alex said hoarsely, feeling himself get emotional and hoped that he wasn’t pressing Everly too hard. He wanted her for his own and knew there would never be anyone else that fascinated him or made him feel this way.

“All of us,” she breathed softly, reaching up to touch his cheek. “Let’s try this and see how it works for all of us. I’ll let Mallory know, and we should probably test…”

Alex leaned forward to kiss her softly, brief yet gentle.

“Thank you for being so wonderful,” he murmured, caressing her cheek.

“Caleb is part of your family – and I want this to work out between us. I could never ask you to choose. If there’s going to be a future, a forever, then it involves all of us… including Mallory as Caleb’s mother.”

“You are right.”

“Plus, it’s about time you know where your son lives, you should see his room, and it would give us time to hang out together without having to find some sort of entertainment.”

“Then it sounds like you’ve got this all figured out,” he smiled tenderly.

“I’m trying… for us.”

“For us,” he repeated, touched by her capability to understand, grasp, and feel what is right for all of them.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Until tomorrow, my lovely Everly.”

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